Take a poorly-drawn cartoon bird who never speaks, a broken family, an afro-clad 'god', mentally troubled children, outright insane adults, a large dose of surrealism as well as realism, and a [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism soul-crushing amount of cynicism]] and you have ''Oyasumi Punpun''.

''Oyasumi Punpun'' ("Goodnight, Punpun") is a supremely bizarre {{Seinen}} manga by Creator/InioAsano about the title character, Punpun. Punpun is a young, innocent, and naive child, who, in some kind of strange stylistic choice, is depicted as a simplistic sketch of a bird despite everyone outside of his family looking like a normal human. He has no real dreams, his father is an abusive deadbeat (at least, he appears to be), and his mother is a drunk who regrets having him, but Punpun has one thing: a pretty girl named Aiko whom he fawns over. Well, her, and an afro'd and slightly useless god he can summon by chanting 'Dear God, dear God, tinkle-tinkle hoy!'

The story begins as SliceOfLife comedy, following Punpun through his childhood as he deals with his family life, his school life, his social life, and his budding romantic life. While noticeably dark, it also contains a hint of child-like innocence. However, as the series progresses, it develops into an extremely dark ComingOfAge story, with all innocence being wiped away. While the humor remains, it takes a backseat to experiences of Punpun, his family, and his acquaintances as they deal with the hardships of adolescence, adulthood, and life in general. The story is split roughly into four arcs: Punpun's life in elementary school, middle school, high school, and as a young adult.

The series ended publication in Japan at thirteen volumes. The series is licensed in Italy and France where other works by Asano were published. As of July 2015, VIZ Media has licensed the series in English to be released at an unknown later date.

----!! This series provides examples of:%%* ADateWithRosiePalms: Punpun, as well as his uncle, every now and then.* ADayInTheLimelight: Seki and Shimizu get chapters centered entirely around them with no appearances from Punpun.* AbusiveParents** Aiko's mom abuses her verbally, emotionally and physically, and forces her to take part in her cult. The effects of this abuse on Aiko become very clear in later chapters.** The 16-year-old daughter of one of Yuuichi's art students claims that she is a victim, but it's ambiguous as to whether she was [[WoundedGazelleGambit lying to get attention]].** Seki's dad, who is a neglectful drunk.** Sachi's stepfamily comes off this way as well, although their abuse is more on the verbal/mental side.* TheAce** Yaguchi. Handsome, outstanding athlete, gentlemanly, and rumored to have a huge dick. He sadly lost (maybe) his athletic ability due to his injuries. He is also probably the only male character in the manga who is not broken or crazy in some ways.** Punpun apparently also used to be an ace in the eyes of others, being apparently good-looking, getting good grades, but not nerdy, cool, and aloof; at least until [[spoiler:Azusa]] gave him a HeroicBSOD that completely drained him of all his self-confidence, leading him to where he is now.* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From Pegasus' list of predictions:--> "He correctly predicted the Aum Shinrikyo Cults Attack, 9-11, and even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimokkori the Marimokkori character.]]* AttemptedRape** [[spoiler:Punpun to Azusa]], but she snaps him out of it before he can go through with it.** A similar experience repeats with [[spoiler:Punpun and Aiko]], although it's hard to tell whether she snapped it out of it or [[NearRapeExperience he stopped himself]].* TheAtoner: Punpun attempts to atone for [[spoiler:killing Aiko's mother]] by [[spoiler:killing Aiko and then himself]]. [[spoiler:Luckily, he doesn't succeed]].* BewareTheNiceOnes** [[spoiler:Midori]]. She [[spoiler:rapes Punpun]] after [[spoiler:Yuuichi's actions]] leave her emotionally distraught.** The 16-year old daughter of Yuuichi's art student. She [[spoiler:used her body to persuade an adult to try to kill her mother]], and Yuuichi was almost trapped.* BlandNameProduct: The drink Mr. Pepper -- in style of Dr. Pepper's logo.* BlatantLies: Punpun's father keeps sending him letters that he is off fighting giant space aliens. Punpun didn't buy it when he was a little kid, and thinks his father is being an idiot. Justified since it was revealed that [[spoiler:Mama Punpun was actually sending him those letters]], so that [[spoiler:Punpun wouldn't hate his father]].* BreakTheCutie: The manga is about Punpun's progressing disillusionment with the world as he grows up, stemming from his mother's abuse, his father's absence, Aiko's situation and how it affects him, among other things. This process occurs with various other characters, usually seen in flashbacks (Punpun's uncle was [[spoiler:nearly tricked by a girl into killing her mother]], for example).* BookDumb: Seki doesn't bother going to school, but is able to find work and take care of himself anyways.* BookEnds: The manga begins with Aiko transferring to Punpun's school, him falling in love with her, Punpun's friends telling him about sex, and Aiko telling Punpun that one day mankind will collapse. The story ends with this too, only with different people. There are also shots of a gym.* CallBack: In chapter 117, Aiko [[spoiler:bites Punpun's hand so hard her tooth falls out]], and she ends up looking like she did as a child.* CanNotSpitItOut: Punpun towards Aiko, initially. The entire Punpun family is like this in general, one of the motifs in the manga is how they cannot communicate effectively with each other. * CastOfSnowflakes: Even outside of the Punpun family, every character has a unique design that makes them instantly recognizable, even minor characters who only appear once or twice or don't play a significant role in the story.* CatchPhrase** Punpun's elementary school teacher likes to say, "Juuust kidding."** Pegasus' is "Good vibrations!"* CerebusSyndrome: The beginning of the manga has a lot of quirky humor and a hint of childish innocence and optimism, but later the darker aspects of the story come in full force and the manga becomes increasingly oppressive and depressing, with a lot of the earlier surrealism vanishing.* ChekhovsArmoury: Very much so. The story has a rather tightly-packed continuity, with small details, past events, or hidden connections that are easily overlooked coming into play at a later part in the story.* ChekhovsGunman** Punpun and his friends actually meet [[spoiler:Sachi]] very early on, at the miso factory. However, her face appears very different when she shows up again, [[spoiler:due to her plastic surgery]].** [[spoiler:Harumi]], after a large absence during most of Punpun's adult life, reappears during the ending chapters.* CloudCuckoolander: Shimizu with his visions of the god of poop, plus Punpun's occasional non-sequiturs.* {{Cult}}** Aiko's mom is a member of one, much to Aiko's embarrassment.** The group led by Pegasus, which Shimizu joins, that plan on saving the world via a music concert.* ComingOfAgeStory: The story follows Punpun as he grows from a child into an adult.%%* TheCynic: Yuuichi.* DarkerAndEdgier: By far the most dark, cynical and depressing of Inio Asano's works to date.* DeathEqualsRedemption: Subverted. [[spoiler:Mama Punpun apologizes to Punpun before she dies for treating him badly]], but even then [[spoiler:Punpun still can't bring himself to love her.]]* DespairEventHorizon** Punpun reaches it after [[spoiler:killing Aiko's mother]]. From that point on, he talks even less, becomes [[spoiler:abusive to Aiko]], constantly thinks about [[spoiler:how long a murderer would spend in jail]], and then plans to [[spoiler:kill Aiko before killing himself to escape the guilt.]]** It's unclear when Aiko's is, but it seems to be either [[spoiler:almost getting killed by her mother, and then seeing Punpun murder her]] or [[spoiler:hearing the radio transmission of the discovery of her mother's body and the search for her whereabouts]], right after [[spoiler:finding a new place to live with Punpun, as well as a promising job]].* DestructiveRomance: Punpun and Aiko's relationship, which is best described as two self-hating, damaged, hollow shells of people seeking comfort in the other, to the point of obsession, idealizing the other and overlooking all their flaws, later throwing abuse into the mix as well. [[spoiler:It's implied that one reason Aiko committed suicide was because she realized these things.]]* DiabolusExMachina: Several of the twists in volumes 12 and 13 pertaining to Punpun and Aiko feel like cheap twists purely made for drama and angst, mostly due to the [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived]] nature of said twists.* DomesticAbuse** Leading to Punpun's father becoming a DisappearedDad after putting his wife in the hospital. [[spoiler:Except it's subverted: it turns out that he only knocked Mama Punpun unconscious because she was unstable and trying to kill herself.]]** Punpun and Aiko's relationship; generally it's Punpun abusing Aiko, but she does have a couple of more questionable moments, like trying to [[spoiler:poke out Punpun's eye]] just for ogling some other girls.* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. [[spoiler:Punpun is raped by his uncle's girlfriend]], and it's most certainly ''not'' okay.* DrivenToSuicide** [[spoiler:Punpun's mom and uncle]], but fortunately they are not successful.** Near the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Aiko hangs herself]].** And not long afterwards, [[spoiler:Punpun stabs himself in the eye]], but he's saved from death by [[spoiler:Sachi]] at the last moment.* DysfunctionalFamily: Punpun's family. There's a jobless, deadbeat father and an unstable mother. His uncle seems to be a stabilizing force when he's introduced, but even he has issues of his own; he's just really good at not showing them in front of Punpun.** And then there's Aiko with her abusive, mega-supersticious mother.* DysfunctionJunction: Even outside of the aforementioned Punpun family a number of the other characters suffer from emotional and psychological issues.* EarnYourHappyEnding: After all the torment of his life, his [[spoiler:raping, attempted suicide, running away from home and severe depression]], Punpun eventually [[spoiler:recovers from his conditions, and returns to the world, as normal as he was before]]. The final chapters even show him as [[spoiler:his original form -- a cartoony bird -- to symbolize that his innocence has finally returned]].* EyeScream** [[spoiler:Aiko]] tells [[spoiler:Punpun]] that he only needs one eye [[spoiler:to look after her with, and begins to drive a fork through it.]] She stops herself, though.** [[spoiler:Punpun]] stabs himself in the same eye in one of the final chapters.* FanDisservice** There are many sex scenes in the manga, and ''none'' of them are meant to be sexy. A few of them are particularly disturbing to look at.** Mama Punpun's gravity-defying breasts come off as more hilarious than arousing. * {{Gonk}}: Tons of characters. They generally look normal with the exception of, say, having horribly glazed eyes staring in different directions, or gaping smiles. One of Punpun's childhood friends, Komatsu, has eyes that are a little too open, and sure enough, the audience loses sympathy with him at the same time he goes completely {{Gonk}}.* GrowingUpSucks** Seki certainly seems to think so.** The series ''itself'' seems to think so.* HairColorDissonance: Aiko canonically has dark-brown hair. Most fan-artists give her a reddish-brown, if not outright red, tone, while some of the color pages in the manga have given her red (though sometimes reddish-brown or brown-looking) and ''greenish-blue''.* HandsOffParenting: Seki's parents don't care about what he does with his life; they're just worried about having just enough money to live comfortably without much effort.%%* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Punpun has sported these.* HeroicBSOD: Every major character seems to suffer at least one throughout the manga; Punpun in particular goes through several, for better or for worse.* HopeSpot** Chapters 130 and 131. You just know it's going to be better after [[spoiler:Punpun shows that he still loves Aiko]]. But you're proven wrong when in chapter 132, [[spoiler:he plans to kill her and then kill himself in order to be free of his guilt from killing Aiko's mom.]]** Chapter 138. Even though [[spoiler:Aiko appears to be dying from her wounds]] and [[spoiler:there isn't a hospital in the near area]], but even so, there's a small glimmer of hope that maybe, despite the odds stacked against them, these two will finally get through everything and be happy together. Then in chapter 139, [[spoiler:Punpun wakes up alone]] and almost immediately finds out that [[spoiler:Aiko hung herself]].* HumansAreBastards/HumansAreFlawed: The series has a pretty complicated take on this. Most of the characters are noticeably flawed in many ways, frequently engaging in acts of pettiness or downright cruelty and depravity to the point where it'd be easy to write off most of them as terrible people. However the manga also goes out of its way to show that many of these same people are this way because of their circumstances, and that they are capable of moments of profound kindness and empathy, which makes it hard to write them purely as one or the other.* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Punpun tries to pull this off with Aiko, but it doesn't work very well. * InformedAttribute: It is occasionally implied that Punpun and Yuichi are good-looking. Because of the stylistic decision to represent them all as simplistic cartoon birds, we never get to see it.* ItsAllAboutMe: Several characters get called out for being self-centered, notably [[spoiler:Punpun]] by [[spoiler:Azusa]] and Sachi's pride by various people.* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Midori]] never gets any repercussions for [[spoiler:raping Punpun]].%%* KingOfAllCosmos: God is... well, God is kinda ''weird''.%%* LadyDrunk: Punpun's mom.* LoveTriangle** Punpun-Aiko-Yaguchi in the middle school arc.%%** Yuichi ends up [[spoiler:cheating on two different partners twice.]]* MadeOfIron: Several members of the cast suffer wounds that should've heavily injured, crippled, or killed them, and yet come out relatively unharmed. The most glaring would be [[spoiler:Aiko stabbing Punpun in the heart]] and [[spoiler:Punpun]] not being affected by it in ''any'' way whatsoever.* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:Yuichi had one in his flashback, with the daughter of one of his students. She was actually just trying to use him in order to kill her mother.]]* MinimalisticCoverArt: The volume covers are a solid color embossed only with a picture of Punpun, or sometimes one of his relatives.* {{Mukokuseki}}: Averted. The characters are drawn with normal black and brown hair colors and everyone generally looks more realistic than most series.* MadnessMantra: While only being spoken once during the actual chapter, it's debatable that [[http://i31.mangareader.net/oyasumi-punpun/99/oyasumi-punpun-2839713.jpg part of the cover to book 9]] could showcase [[spoiler:Punpun's]] descent into his madness.* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Punpun and his family. Punpun's design in particular actually goes through unusual changes later in the story, in a manner that's indicative of his state of mind at the time.* NotGoodWithPeople: Every major character in the story has some issues with people or dealing with others. Punpun and Aiko, in particular, are the greatest examples of this.* ObfuscatingStupidity: Shimizu, despite his dreamy tendencies, seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders; he just merely lacks the independence to show it.* PutOnABus: As the story goes on, Aiko become less and less prominent, and after Punpun leaves for high school she hasn't been seen since outside of flashbacks. However, she makes brief reappearances during chapters [[spoiler:72]] and [[spoiler:89]] before [[TheBusCameBack properly returning]] in chapter [[spoiler:99]].* TheQuietOne: Punpun speaks very little. His lines are always text in a black background instead of balloons.* QuestionableConsent: Punpun and Aiko's first time together -- Punpun practically coerces Aiko into having sex with him, the atmosphere is devoid of any positivity, the sex itself is rough and Aiko never displays any pleasure throughout it, and Punpun doesn't exercise any restraint, leaving Aiko a sore, bleeding mess by the end.* RagingStiffie** Punpun on his date with Azusa. She doesn't notice.** And again on a date with Aiko after her return.* TheRashomon: Mama Punpun's injuries in the first volume. Later, we find out that [[spoiler:there's more to the story than just husband-on-wife DomesticAbuse]]. %%* RomanticFalseLead: Yaguchi.* SadistTeacher: While not outwardly violent, Punpun's elementary school teacher seems to get a lot of joy out of screwing with his students' heads.* SceneryPorn: Backgrounds are very detailed, especially in page spreads.* SelfDeprecation: [[http://www.batoto.net/read/_/185728/oyasumi-punpun_v12_ch127_by_hox/11 Apparently the manga Sachi published is Solanin]]. A stranger who looks kinda like [[http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/meoinkie2/15090507/109593/109593_original.jpg Inio Asano]] described it to Punpun as "pretty boring. All the characters are so clueless." With said character also getting [[spoiler:''beat up'' by Punpun]] later on.* ShapeshifterModeLock: Punpun's cartoon bird appearance gets locked into [[spoiler:a faceless prism]] after he starts living alone. Sachi snaps him out of it.%%* ShrinkingViolet: Punpun.* ShoutOut** In chapter 19, Yuuichi yells at a taxi driver to '[[VideoGame/MarioKart use the mushroom boost]]'.** Shimizu once brags to another student that he can do a [[Manga/DragonBall Kamehameha]].* SilentProtagonist: Punpun only speaks through internal monologue or actions, though this doesn't prevent him from communicating fine with other characters. [[spoiler:He finally directly speaks in chapters 144 and 145.]]* SilentSceneryPanel: Everywhere throughout the manga. Practically all of them are [[SceneryPorn a sight to behold]].* SliceOfLife: The manga is all about a boy growing up and dealing with his circumstances in life, no fantasy stuff here (except in the characters' imaginations).* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: ''Far'' on the cynical side, as noted above.* SpellMyNameWithAnS: WordOfGod actually spells it Pung-Pung, not Punpun.* TakeThat: Asano Inio makes quite a few blatant stabs at the current trend of childishness in anime and manga, including a very poorly drawn young girl in her underwear drawn in the last page of chapter 89 prompting readers to buy the next volume standing next to an equally poorly drawn anthropomorphic crocodile, and an unusually placed rant by a nameless character about the "impurity" of actual women over 2-D fictional variants. * TitleDrop** Used at the end of an arc, right before the TimeSkip.** A rather odd example: In one of the final chapters, [[spoiler:during Punpun's dying moments]], there is narration at the bottom of the page reading "Goodnight". On the next page, the word "Punpun" is spoken, and it's also the only one spoken on that page.* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The manga has an exact total of thirteen volumes, and... it's ''not'' a happy story, to say the least.* TheUnreveal** What exactly Punpun looks like. In the final chapter, every time he's in the panel, his head is blocked by something. And the very last time we see him, he has returned to the bird appearance, albeit adult sized.*** We do see him realistically drawn a couple of times, however both times the majority of his face is obscured.** We also never learn [[spoiler:his real name]]. In his [[spoiler:only onscreen spoken line, he says "My name is..."]] Then it cuts away. His old friend, Harumi, later says he can't remember [[spoiler:Punpun's name]].* WhamEpisode** [[spoiler:Punpun killing Aiko's abusive mother.]]** And chapters after, Punpun waking up to [[spoiler:see Aiko has committed suicide.]]* WhamLine: Courtesy of Aiko, in chapter 132:-->"Punpun... [[spoiler:Am I going to be killed here?]]"* WhatTheHellHero** The most outstanding one has to go to [[spoiler:Midori]], for [[spoiler:raping Punpun]] during her emotional distress.** From Chapter 102 and onwards, [[spoiler:Punpun]] just keeps going through a downwards-spiral of these, the biggest being [[spoiler:killing Aiko's mom]].* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The reason Seki doesn't [[spoiler:kill a cheating boyfriend he was hired to kill]].* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: [[spoiler:Seki]] is afraid of fire, after the incident at the miso factory. [[spoiler:He later overcomes it to save Shimizu, when the latter is caught in a deadly fire]].* WomanScorned: A woman who was cheated on by her boyfriend hired Seki to [[spoiler:kill him]]. Seki being Seki, he doesn't carry through with it. The woman also regrets using him as soon as he gets her orders.* {{Yandere}}: Aiko threatens to kill Punpun if he breaks his promises. She was probably joking, but she certainly came off as frightening to Punpun.** Far further into the timeline, Aiko [[spoiler:almost pokes out Punpun's eye with a fork]] for ogling other women.* YankTheDogsChain: Happens to Punpun and Aiko frequently, especially in the later volumes, [[spoiler:when they're on the run after Punpun murdered Aiko's mom]]. The example that stands out the most would have to be [[spoiler:the unfortunate radio transmission]] in chapter 134, [[spoiler:reporting the discovery of Aiko's mom's body, and the search starting up to find Aiko]], right after [[spoiler:Punpun and Aiko finally find a job and a place to live]].%%* YouNeedToGetLaid: Punpun's coworker says this to him. Punpun's mom also says this to Midori while she's in the hospital.